The next section presents the analysis of selected policy proposals formulated by DG Development,158 where I explore the integration of a gender
158 As said, DG Development deals with the formulation of the EU’s development cooperation policy. The implementation side of development policies is taken by EuropeAid. DG Development is thus in charge of gender mainstreaming in development policies at the policy-making and programme formulation stage and DG Employment has a coordinating and monitoring role in that mainstreaming of gender. The objectives regarding
perspective in development policies (at the policy-making and programme formulation stage) and try to identify how the ‘problem’ of gender (in)equality is represented in policy documents within the area of development cooperation. I then analyse the material to find different understandings, representations, and assumptions that constitute different discourses. The discourse analysis includes a textual analysis as well as the analysis of discursive and social practice dimensions of discourse (see chapter 3). Before beginning the presentation of the analysis, however, I first briefly describe the material I have worked on and refer to some introductory aspects of the text analysis of the material.159
Through the interviews with people working with gender issues at DG Development, I tried to find out how gender is mainstreamed in policy proposals and projects. I asked how they mainstream gender; what obstacles they find; what they think about gender mainstreaming; how they define gender, gender equality, and gender inequality.
Regarding policy documents, I have worked on framework documents. The European Consensus on Development (European Union 2005) is the current policy framework for development cooperation and aid. In addition, I have analysed some Programming Guidelines for Gender Equality and for Strategy Papers in particular (European Commission 2006b; European Commission 2008c).
I have also analysed specific policy proposals in the area of development.
Among them are the following policy documents: the Commission Communication on Gender Equality and Women Empowerment in Development Cooperation (COM(2007) 100 final) with its annexes (SEC(2007) 332); the Conclusions of the Council and of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States on Commission Communication on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Development Cooperation (Council of the European Union 2007); documents on Policy Coherence for Development (COM(2005) 134 final); and policy proposals on the development strategy for Africa such as the EU Strategy for Africa (COM(2005) 489 final) and Strategy for the Horn of Africa (COM(2006) 601 final), and Country Strategy Papers (CSPs).160
Although the period under examination is 2005–2010, the 1995 Commission Communication on Integrating Gender Issues in Development Cooperation
gender equality for the area of development are set in the Roadmap for Equality between Women and Men 2006-2010.
159 The material is described in detail in the appendix to chapter 3. I provide here only a brief introduction.
160 For a detail of policy documents, see the appendix to chapter 3.
(COM(95) 423 final) is also included in order to get a richer picture of the representation of the ‘problem’ of gender (in)equality within development cooperation.
I have analysed these policy documents and other EU material such as WIDE161 evaluations, briefings, and reports, trying to identify different underlying representations of the ‘problem’ of gender (in)equality. The idea is to elaborate a discourse analysis (see chapter 3) to find, following Bacchi’s approach, what the ‘problem’ of gender (in)equality is represented to be in development cooperation policy proposals in the context of the introduction of the mainstreaming principle, and the implications of these definitions, assumptions, and representations with respect to what remains unproblematised and what kinds of subjects are constructed.
To start with, I will refer briefly to some of the selected policy documents.
First, I have analysed the Roadmap for Equality between Women and Men 2006-2010. Even though it is a policy document that refers to the strategy of gender mainstreaming at the EU level in general and I have presented it in chapter 4, it is relevant to take it into consideration in the context of development cooperation because it is in the Roadmap that the general objective for development is stated. Gender equality is defined in the Roadmap as a human right and a goal in itself (COM(2006) 92 final: 9), but also as a means to reduce poverty, to achieve economic growth, employment, and even social cohesion (ibid.: 2). It is one of the Roadmap objectives to promote gender equality in development policies (point 6.2 of the Roadmap).
Second, within the period 2005–2010 there is the policy framework for development cooperation: The European Consensus on Development (European Union 2005) is a document that puts forward a framework of common principles to coordinate EU’s development cooperation policies and defines gender equality as a human right (European Union 2005: 17).
Another important policy document within development cooperation formulated during the period under examination is the Commission Communication titled Gender Equality and Women Empowerment in Development Cooperation (COM(2007) 100 final) with its annexes (SEC(2007) 332). This Communication ‘builds on [...] the policy framework of the European Consensus, and [...] also responds to the commitments made in the Roadmap for Equality between Women and Men’ (COM(2007) 100 final: 2). It puts forward the EU dual-track approach to gender equality in development cooperation that includes the mainstreaming of gender into all policies and programmes and the financing of specific actions to advance
161 I will be using WIDE material mostly as a critical input.
women’s empowerment (twin-track approach of gender mainstreaming and women’s empowerment) (ibid.). The 2007 Communication aims to establish a common set of principles to be agreed on, shared, and followed by all MSs.
By this means it is stressed that gender equality is a shared value and practice within the EU and that this can be a model for countries outside the Union. In the Communication, gender equality is defined as follows: ‘Gender Equality is not only crucial in itself but is a fundamental human right and a question of social justice. Furthermore, Gender Equality is essential for growth and poverty reduction, and it is key to reaching the Millennium Development Goals’ (COM(2007) 100 final: 2). At the same time, the 2007 Communication aims to be a critical voice and to provide some arguments on the causes of gender inequality (see also SEC(2007) 332). It also states that
‘the MDGs [Millennium Development Goals] focus on the health and education aspects of Gender Equality and fail to capture other multifaceted dimensions of Gender Equality’ (COM(2007) 100 final: 4). More importantly, the 2007 Communication brings the concept of empowerment back in, as I will discuss in detail below.
There is also the Council Conclusions on the Commission Communication on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Development Cooperation (Council of the European Union 2007). In its Conclusions, the Council, too, defines gender equality as a human right and ‘a question of social justice and also a core value of the EU’ (Council of the European Union 2007: 2). This understanding of gender equality as a human right and as a question of social justice is presented in several policy documents and contributes to constructing the ‘human rights discourse of gender equality’.
Beside this definition of gender equality as a human right and as a value in itself, there is an instrumental aspect of gender equality. The Council Conclusions specifies that ‘the promotion of gender equality and the enjoyment of human rights by women and girls are goals in their own right and also instrumental and key to achieving internationally agreed development goals’ (ibid.: 2). This representation of gender equality as instrumental is part of the ‘efficiency discourse of gender equality’, an argument that stresses the importance of gender equality to the economy.
Gender equality is thus instrumental in bringing economic growth and sustainable development. Several authors refer to the ‘efficiency discourse’
(see, for instance, Lewis 2006; Lombardo & Meier 2006; Pollack & Hafner-Burton 2000).162 Traces of this efficiency discourse mixed with human rights discourse can indeed be found everywhere in the policy documents and
162 See chapter 1 for references to the academic debate on the idea of efficiency.
interviews (see also chapter 4), and there is an intertextual connection among the texts.